Self-describing artifacts and application abstractions

• US 20060123412A1
• Filed: 12/07/2004
• Published: 06/08/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Larus, James R., DeTreville, John D., Grieskamp, Wolfgang, Roeder, Thomas, Levi, Steven P., Hunt, Galen, Fahndrich, Manuel, Zorn, Benjamin
• Granted Patent: US 7,451,435 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/174
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation

Abstract

Described herein is at least one implementation employing multiple self-describing software artifacts persisted on one or more computer-storage media of a software-based computer. In this implementation, each artifact is representative of at least part of the software components (e.g., load modules, processes, applications, and operating system components) of the computing system and each artifact is described by at least one associated “manifest,” which include metadata declarative descriptions of the associated artifact.

Claims

1. A computing system comprising:

a processor configured to execute processor-executable instructions;

a memory coupled to the processor;

a storage sub-system coupled to the processor and configured to persist multiple self-describing software artifacts, the artifacts being representative of software components of the computing system.

2. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein each of the multiple self-describing software artifacts has an associated persisted manifest comprising declarative descriptions of the manifest'"'"'s software artifact.

3. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein each of the multiple self-describing software artifacts has an associated persisted manifest comprising primarily declarative descriptions of the manifest'"'"'s software artifact.

4. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein each of the multiple self-describing software artifacts has an associated persisted manifest comprising completely declarative descriptions of the manifest'"'"'s software artifact.

5. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the software components of the computing system comprise operating system elements and applications.

6. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the software components of the computing system comprise operating system elements and applications, the elements and applications being installed on the computing system and configured for execution on the processor.

7. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein a persisted system manifest comprises declarative descriptions of the multiple self-describing software artifacts.

8. A system as recited in claim 1 further comprising an artifact manager configured to manage the self-describing software artifacts.

9. A system as recited in claim 1 further comprising an artifact manager configured to update the self-describing software artifacts.

10. A system as recited in claim 1 further comprising an artifact manager configured to optimize use of self-describing software artifacts for generating a set of processor-executable instruction.

11. A system as recited in claim 1 further comprising an execution gateway configured to allow execution of only processor-executable instructions associated with a self-describing artifact only if conditions for allowed execution described by the associated self-describing artifact exist.

12. A system as recited in claim 1 further comprising an execution gateway configured to limit execution of functional components of the self-describing software artifacts when a manifest associated with the functional components of the self-describing software artifacts includes a conditional declarative description that the execution gateway determines is met.

13. A system as recited in claim 1 further comprising an execution gateway configured to audit a self-describing artifact to determine if the artifact differs from the artifact'"'"'s own self-description.

14. A system as recited in claim 1 further comprising a system verifier configured to perform acts comprising:

examining the self-describing artifacts to gather information about the artifacts;

performing a verification of the self-describing artifacts;

reporting results of the verification.

15. A system as recited in claim 1 further comprising an operating system configured to perform acts comprising facilitating creation of an instance of an application, wherein the source components of the application are derived from one or more of the self-describing artifacts.

16. A system as recited in claim 1 further comprising an optimization tool configured to perform acts comprising:

examining the self-describing artifacts to gather information about the artifacts;

optimizing the components of self-describing artifacts;

persisting the self-describing artifacts with optimized components.

17. A system as recited in claim 1 further comprising an error detection tool configured to perform acts comprising:

examining the self-describing artifacts to gather information about the artifacts;

analyzing the self-describing artifacts to detect potential errors;

reporting results of the analysis.

18. One or more processor-readable media having processor-executable instructions thereon that, when executed by a processor, performs acts comprising:

facilitating persistence of multiple software artifacts on a computing system, the artifacts being representative of functional operating system components or functional applications, such components and applications being installed on the computing system;

facilitating persistence of manifests associated with the multiple software artifacts, the manifests being declarative descriptions of the multiple software artifacts.

19. One or more media as recited in claim 18 further comprising examining the manifests to discover information about the multiple software artifacts.

20. One or more processor-readable media having processor-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, perform acts comprising:

examining multiple self-describing software artifacts persisted on a computing system to gather information about the artifacts;

performing verification on the multiple self-describing software artifacts;

reporting results of the verification.

21. One or more media as recited in claim 20, wherein the performing act comprises verifying that that all dependencies of software components installed on a computer are met, the software components being composed of one or more self-describing software artifacts.

22. One or more media as recited in claim 20, wherein the performing act comprises verifying that processor-executable instructions represented by one or more self-describing artifacts remains unaltered.

23. One or more media as recited in claim 20, wherein the performing act comprises verifying that an application is correctly installed in a computer, the application being composed of one or more self-describing software artifacts.

24. One or more media as recited in claim 20, wherein the performing act comprises verifying that a known faulty or malicious program is not installed on a computer.

25. One or more media as recited in claim 20, wherein the performing act comprises verifying that an application and all of its constituent components and dependencies are accessible from a computer before the application is installed on the computer, the application being composed of one or more self-describing software artifacts.

26. One or more media as recited in claim 20, wherein the performing act comprises verifying that an application is installable on the computer before loading components of the application onto the computer.

27. One or more media as recited in claim 20, wherein the performing act comprises verifying that installation of a new application will not conflict with existing applications, the applications being composed of one or more self-describing software artifacts.

28. One or more media as recited in claim 20, wherein the performing act comprises verifying that an application can be removed without breaking dependencies from other applications, the applications being composed of one or more self-describing software artifacts.

29. One or more media as recited in claim 20, wherein the performing act comprises verifying that an application conforms to a predefined local policy, the application being composed of one or more self-describing software artifacts.

30. One or more media as recited in claim 20, wherein one or more self-describing artifacts compose an application, which application has process-executable instructions that may be executed on a computer when the application is loaded into a memory of a computer, the performing act comprises optimizing the process-executable instructions of the application to improve the performance of the instructions of the application.

31. One or more media as recited in claim 20, wherein one or more self-describing artifacts compose an application, which application has process-executable instructions that may be executed on a computer when the application is loaded into a memory of a computer, the performing act comprises analyzing the process-executable instructions of the application to detect potential errors in execution behavior or operation of the instructions of the application.

32. A data structure embodied on one or more processor-readable media, the structure comprising:

multiple software artifacts comprising processor-executable instructions representing operating system components or applications, such components and applications being installed on a computing system;

manifests associated with the multiple software artifacts, the manifests being declarative descriptions of hte multiple software artifacts.

33. One or more media as recited in claim 32, wherein one of the manifests is a system manifest comprising declarative descriptions of the multiple self-describing software artifacts.

34. One or more processor-readable media having processor-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, perform acts comprising:

obtaining a copy of an offline “

system image”

of a software-based computer, the system image representing the content and configuration of software components installed on the computer, wherein the installed a software components are represented on the system image as self-describing software artifacts;

analyzing the self-describing software artifacts of the offline system image;

reporting results of the analyzing act.

35. One or more processor-readable media as recited in claim 34 further comprising identifying, based upon the analyzing act, the software components in the offline system image.

36. One or more processor-readable media as recited in claim 34 further comprising:

identifying based upon the analyzing act, the software components in the offline system image;

determining whether the identified software components in the offline system image are functional.

37. One or more processor-readable media as recited in claim 34 further comprising:

identifying based upon the analyzing act, the software components in the offline system image;

determining whether the identified software components in the offline system image contain defects.

38. One or more processor-readable media as recited in claim 34, wherein each of the self-describing software artifacts has an associated persisted manifest comprising declarative descriptions of the manifest'"'"'s software artifact.

39. One or more processor-readable media as recited in claim 34, wherein each of the self-describing software artifacts has an associated persisted manifest comprising primarily declarative descriptions of the manifest'"'"'s software artifact.

40. One or more processor-readable media as recited in claim 34, wherein each of the self-describing software artifacts has an associated persisted manifest comprising completely declarative descriptions of the manifest'"'"'s software artifact.

41. One or more processor-readable media as recited in claim 34, wherein the software components of the computing system comprise operating system elements and applications.

42. One or more processor-readable media as recited in claim 34, wherein the offline system image comprises a persisted system manifest having declarative descriptions of the self-describing software artifacts.